These new views lead to a growing change in the status and aggressiveness of women in the nineteenth century.

Furthermore the belief that al of Victorian society was virtuous and unblemished has even come under more scrutiny. "...historians now use letters, diaries, marriage manuals, and even one survey of sexual attitudes to argue that the Victorians were in fact far less restrained.

The power of the Catholic Church meant that theological teaching was translated into dogma, and from dogma into policy and action. However, the contradictions presented by the potency of the sexual drive, the sanctity of marriage and the fear of damnation made the institution of prostitution inevitable. It became the 'lesser' or the 'necessary' evil permitted in order to safeguard more cherished institutions and to prevent men from committing graver sins. Justifications multiplied. 'If you eliminate prostitutes from society, ' declared St. Augustine, 'you disrupt everything with lust....
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